AbstractAs more and more instances of corporate hypocrisy become public, consumers have developed an inherent general skepticism towards firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims. As CSR skepticism bears heavily on consumers’ attitudes and behavior, this paper draws from Construal Level Theory to identify how it can be pre-emptively abated. We posit that this general skepticism towards CSR leads people to adopt a low-level construal mindset when processing CSR information. Across four studies, we show that matching this low-level mindset with concrete CSR messaging works to effectively mitigate the negative effects of inherent CSR skepticism on consumers’ attitudes, purchase intentions, and word of mouth. The resulting construal-mindset congruency strengthens the favorability of consumer responses through increased positive elaboration and perceptions of CSR message credibility. Furthermore, this congruency effect is shown to persist over time in skeptical domains but to dissipate in less skeptical domains.

​​Connors, S., Khamitov, M., Moroz, S., Campbell, L. (2016) Time, Money, and Happiness: Does Putting a Price on Time Affect Our Ability to Smell the Roses? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology .

AbstractDeVoe and House (2012; Experiment 3) demonstrated that the process of thinking about one’s income in relation to time (i.e., as an hourly wage) affected the enjoyment that participants derived from pleasurable experiences. Participants compelled to think of “time is money” experienced more impatience and less enjoyment in reaction to listening to a pleasurable piece of music compared to participants not asked to think of time as money. These effects were attenuated when participants were financially compensated for this leisure time. This suggests that putting a price on time can influence enjoyment of leisure activities, depending on the degree to which individuals are compensated for engaging in these activities. To determine the reliability, and magnitude, of the reported effects, two preregistered high-powered close replications were conducted. These independent replication attempts, as well as the analyses on the combined sample, failed to replicate the original pattern of findings. The results of the current studies suggest that, using these operationalizations of the study variables, the interactive effects of compensation and calculation cannot be considered robust and may not consistently predict happiness or impatience.

​Manuscripts Under Review

​​Connors, S., Khamitov, M., Thomson, M, Perkins, A. Fostering and Leveraging Consumer Brand Relationships: A Psychological Distance Perspective. Third Round Review, Journal of Consumer Research. ​AbstractAcross five studies, we demonstrate how consumer-brand relationship types can be differentially leveraged by marketers to attain favorable brand outcomes. More specifically, we show that brand relationship types are characterized by varying levels of psychological distance which can result in beneficial mindset congruency effects when matched with an appropriate construal-mindset, or concreteness of advertising messages. Study 1 provides evidence that psychologically close (distant) brand relationships result in the adoption of a low (high)-level construal mindset. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that brand relationships that are close to (distant from) the self yield improved evaluations and purchase intentions when brand information is processed at a low (high) construal level, or when an advertising message uses concrete (abstract) language. Study 4 identifies processing fluency as a cognitive mechanism underlying the effect. Finally, Study 5 shows that these subtle congruency effects are strong enough to influence consumers’ actual spending behaviors. We conclude by discussing implications of our findings for branding theorists and marketing practitioners. ​

​Rotman, J. R., Khamitov, M., ​Connors, S. Lie, Cheat, and Steal: A Moral Worth Account of How Harmful Brands Cause Consumers to Act Unethically.Under Second Round Review, Journal of Consumer Psychology. (Order of authorship determined by random draw).​AbstractThe current research explores the mechanism of moral justification, in which unethical and immoral consumer intentions and behavior are re-categorized by consumers to be viewed as a form of morally deserving punishment directed towards harmful brands. Unlike extant research which stresses the absence of moral considerations this paper proposes that consumers are acting on a moral imperative in which specific brands are perceived to be deserving of negative treatment. Through 6 studies we show that harmful brands are seen as deserving lower moral worth leading consumers to seek retribution toward these brands. We find that this retribution takes the form of unethical behavior, such as lying, theft, or cheating. Furthermore, while consumers experience reduced positive affect after acting unethically towards a non-harmful brand, no such reduction occurs when acting unethically towards a harmful brand. Consumers feel no worse off punishing a harmful brand. Lastly, we demonstrate that the mere presence of a harmful product category can taint a brand’s reputation, coloring it as more worthy of punishment.

Connors, Scott. (2014). Consumed by Identity: The Role of Psychosocial Development in Consumption Constellations, Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA.

Connors, Scott. (2013). The Role of Ego Identity Status in the Accessibility of Consumption Constellations: An Examination of the Psychosocial Development of Emerging Adults,” Society for Consumer Psychology. San Antonio, TX.